Last updated: September 2026
Is there a free social media posting API?
Partly, and it depends on the network. Bluesky's API is free, with rate limits. LinkedIn's self-serve posting API is free, but needs a developer app tied to a LinkedIn Page and gives 60-day tokens. X's API is paid per post: about $0.015, or $0.20 with a link.
Free at the API level is not the same as free to run. Below: what each network charges as of September 2026, and the work each free one still leaves you.
Network by network
As of September 2026. Prices and limits change, so confirm against each network's developer documentation.
Bluesky: free, with rate limits
Posting to Bluesky through its API costs nothing. The limits are counted in points: 5,000 an hour and 35,000 a day, and creating a post costs 3. That is roughly 1,666 posts an hour, so the limit only matters to something that behaves like spam.
The work you still own is authentication and threading. Bluesky posts are 300 characters, and a thread is a chain of replies you build yourself. If you want to skip the App Password route entirely, see posting to Bluesky without an API key.
LinkedIn: free, with three strings attached
LinkedIn's self-serve Share on LinkedIn product grants the w_member_social permission and costs nothing. It does not need partner approval. What it does need:
- A developer app tied to a LinkedIn Page. You cannot create the app without associating it with a Page, even though it posts to a personal profile.
- Personal profile only. Posting to Company Pages is a different, reviewed product.
- 60-day tokens with no refresh token. Every member has to sign in again every 60 days, so your code needs a reconnect flow, not a refresh job.
The token detail is the one that breaks automations silently. The full explanation is in why the LinkedIn token expires after 60 days.
X: paid per post
The X API is the one that is clearly not free. The free tier closed to new projects on 6 February 2026, and the $200 Basic tier was force-migrated to pay-per-use on 1 June 2026. Everything meters now: about $0.005 a post read, $0.015 a post, and $0.20 a post containing a link. There is no hobby tier and no trial credit.
The details, and what a normal bot ends up paying, are in is the X API free in 2026.
What about Instagram, TikTok and Facebook?
This page covers the three networks OpenTweet posts to. OpenTweet does not support Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube or Threads, so their APIs are out of scope here.If you want one API for all three
OpenTweet is not free. It is $11.99 a month on Pro, with no per-post fee and Bluesky and LinkedIn on every plan, after a 7-day trial. What it replaces is three integrations: no X developer app and no metered X billing, no LinkedIn developer app, and no Bluesky auth code. You send one request with a platforms list and get a result per network back.
curl -X POST https://opentweet.io/api/v1/posts \
-H "Authorization: Bearer ot_your_key" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"text":"One post, three networks.","platforms":["x","bluesky","linkedin"],"publish_now":true}'LinkedIn through OpenTweet has the same limits as LinkedIn itself: personal profile only, 3,000 characters, and a one-click reconnect every 60 days. Start at the cross-posting reference.
7-day trial. Cancel anytime.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free social media posting API?
Per network, partly. As of September 2026 the Bluesky API is free with rate limits, and LinkedIn's self-serve posting API is free but needs a developer app tied to a LinkedIn Page and gives 60-day tokens with no refresh token. The X API is not free: about $0.015 per post and $0.20 per post with a link.
Is the Bluesky API free?
Yes. Posting through the Bluesky API costs nothing. It is rate limited: 5,000 points an hour and 35,000 a day, and creating a post costs 3 points. That works out to roughly 1,666 posts an hour or 11,666 a day, far more than any normal account needs.
Is the LinkedIn posting API free?
The self-serve Share on LinkedIn product, which grants the w_member_social permission, costs nothing. You still need a LinkedIn developer app associated with a LinkedIn Page, it posts to a member's personal profile, and its access tokens last 60 days with no refresh token, so the member has to sign in again every 60 days.
Is the X API free?
No. The free tier closed to new API projects on 6 February 2026, and the legacy $200 per month Basic tier was force-migrated to pay-per-use on 1 June 2026. Every new project bills per call: roughly $0.005 per post read, $0.015 per post published, and $0.20 per post that contains a link.
Is OpenTweet a free posting API?
No. OpenTweet is $11.99 a month on Pro with no per-post fee, and Bluesky and LinkedIn are on every plan. There is a 7-day trial. What you pay for is one endpoint and one key for all three networks, with no X developer app, no LinkedIn developer app and no token renewal code.
What about Instagram, TikTok and Facebook?
This page covers the three networks OpenTweet posts to. OpenTweet does not support Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube or Threads, so check each of those platforms' own developer documentation for their current terms.
Keep exploring
The per-network details, and posting to all three from one call.
Is the X API free in 2026?
What changed, what is still free, and what a normal bot pays.
Why LinkedIn tokens last 60 days
No refresh token on self-serve apps, and what happens at expiry.
Is there an official LinkedIn MCP server?
What LinkedIn publishes for AI clients, and the alternatives.
LinkedIn MCP server
Post to your LinkedIn profile from Claude or Cursor through the official API.
Bluesky MCP server
atproto OAuth, no App Password in your config.
LinkedIn scheduler
Schedule profile posts in one queue with X and Bluesky.
Bluesky scheduler
Schedule Bluesky posts and threads next to your X queue.
One flat price instead of three integrations
Post to X, Bluesky and LinkedIn from one API call. $11.99 a month, no per-post fee.